credit card processing and buyer's guide: March 2007

Monday, March 26, 2007

Free Credit Card Processing for Business Owners

Would you like to upgrade your company's operations by taking advantage of free credit card processing for business owners? There has never been a better time to locate banks offering this service and make the best possible deal for your interests. Financial institutions are eager to work with you in opening a merchant account, and they sometimes offer attractive incentives to get entrepreneurs' business. If you like the idea of free credit card processing, start shopping at your community banks and credit unions to see what type of deals they can offer.

Free credit card processing for business owners is an attractive perk, since some companies impose fees of perhaps 15 to 25 cents per transaction or a monthly percentage fee overall of between 1% and 2%. Being able to get free credit card processing for business owners could save you a significant sum of money each month, and over time, those savings could increase even more. Your customers will love the ease with which they can make online credit card payments, and you will appreciate the time-saving benefits of handling credit payments electronically rather than by employees who require regular paychecks.

It is a good idea to sit down with your financial institution and discuss the precise terms of the free credit card processing for business owners deal. Will you have to pay an application fee? Will annual membership fees come due each year? Are there other embedded costs that you should know about up front? Even if your credit card processing is free, other start-up expenses could add up to cost even more than the transactions would. You will want to make the best possible deal before signing an application or contract to be sure you don't get trapped into paying unexpected high costs later.

Tip! * Whether or not you made personal credit card payments on time or at all, over drafted your accounts, or filed for bankruptcy may indicate your ability to repay future creditors. * Whether or not you have enough credit for your credit card processing underwriters to be able to satisfactorily discern your ability to repay debts.

Keep in mind that free credit card processing for business owners may not be the best perk to ask for when applying for a merchant account. In addition to start-up fees that could be imposed and perhaps increased in lieu of the free credit card processing option, you also may have to pay expenses like a statement fee, a minimum fee, a discount fee, and a license fee. These could add up initially to more than you will pay for transaction fees. Even if the free credit card processing option appears to save you money at first, is this a limited time offer? When reinstated later, will transaction fees be difficult to add to the company budget since you did not start the process with them?

You might want to get a second opinion on weighing the benefits offered with various merchant account deals. You could even ask the customers via an informal survey about the type of credit processing they are most interested in and then see how promotional offers for opening a merchant account may impact customer interests. Of course, you can always check out the benefits of paying no transactions costs, and if permissible, switch to another system later if costs increase more than expected with free credit card processing for business owners.

Tip! As far as your credit card processing application is concerned, everything. How you run your personal life is indicative of how you will run your business, helping the underwriters of your credit card processing application to determine whether or not you should be considered a risk.

Shane Penrod is the founder of http://www.Merchant-Account-Quotes.com Specializing in allowing merchants the ability to shop and compare multiple quotes from national merchant account providers. For free quotes on merchant account rates and fees, please go to http://www.merchant-account-quotes.com

Top 7 2Checkout Credit Card Processing Advantages

Here are seven good reasons why you should consider 2Checkout.com (also known as 2CO) as your credit card processing solution and merchant account alternative.

1. Accept Credit Cards Without a Merchant Account

For an initial fee of $49.00, you can accept all major credit cards as well as online checks. Fees are 5.5% of sales and $0.45 per transaction.

2. Handle Both Intangible and Tangible Products

While ClickBank.com restricts itself to digital products, 2Checkout can handle both digital and physically shipped products.

3. Shopping Cart

Whereas ClickBank handles only single sales, with 2Checkout, you receive a shopping cart. Alternatively, many third-party shopping carts integrate with 2Checkout.

4. Integration With Third-Party Affiliate Programs

2Checkout integrates with third-party affiliate programs such as ClixGalore.

5. Eliminate Sales Tax Problems

Since you must agree to sell your product to 2Checkout for resale, 2Checkout becomes the retailer responsible for collecting sales taxes -- not you. This simplifies or eliminates sales tax administration for you.

Tip! You should also make sure you have adequate customer service which may help you iron out kinks with customers before a refund is requested. Good customer service goes a long way to preventing future problems with credit card processing.

6. Fraud Detection

With 2Checkout, you have to wait until they complete their fraud detection checks before you deliver the product. This protects the merchant as well as the customer.

7. Other Advantages

As well, 2Checkout features free on-line support, their own affiliate program, and more. Your products are also searchable from shopping center links on their website, thus giving you more exposure. 2Checkout also allows for multi-currency transactions which enable customers to buy in their own local currency. According to the 2Checkout.com website, this improves sales and reduces credit card disputes.

RESOURCE BOX:

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over twenty-five years.

To learn more about accepting credit cards, visit http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/creditcards.html

For profitable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/

Do You Need Credit Card Processing Services

Are your customers asking for credit card processing services? If so, you may want to consider adding this service to your company's Website in order to provide convenient payment methods that will bring back repeat business. Many companies today are moving more toward e-commerce, which means that if you want to avoid getting left behind, you should get ready to join the throng of professionals who are marching into the electronic age of doing business.

Although you may have relied on cash transactions up to now, you might find that is becoming more cumbersome to make correct change, accept checks that could bounce, and track delinquent payments, all while keeping track of each and every transaction. Farming out some of these tasks to hired help can be costly, which is why you may be able to benefit from credit card processing services. If you conduct business onsite at a primary facility, you can plug in a credit card processor and start taking credit payments immediately, which are far less likely to bounce than personal checks.

Tip! If you want to get the best deal on credit card processing rates, you will have to do your homework well. Thoroughly search for the best priced terms and conditions - but make certain the company has a good reputation.

But you will first have to open a merchant account before establishing credit card processing services. Look for a longstanding bank with a solid reputation, one who currently offers merchant accounts to dependable business owners like you. Then be prepared to provide the required documentation that shows a stable credit history and a reasonable business plan that depends on credit card processing services. Upon approval, which can come within a few days, you will be able to purchase or rent credit card processing equipment and start accepting credit payments from your customers.

Credit card processing services can be established at your company's Website. You do have a Website, don't you? If not, that is the second important step into the 21st century that your company needs to take. Hire a Web designer or sketch a few ideas yourself. It need not be fancy or sophisticated, but rather a basic outline of your company's services or products along with basic operating information. Then you will need to register a domain name for a small fee and then pay monthly "rental" fees to post your site in cyberspace. Hiring a designer or someone to maintain and update your site will cost a little more, although often you can find a high school or college student who can do this type of work at nominal cost. When your site is up and running and your merchant account is approved, you are ready to open the Website doors to current and new customers for business. They can browse at their convenience and pay by credit card without human assistance at each juncture. You can make money and save money at the same time.

Tip! If you always wanted to know about credit card processing, then this article is for you. We will discuss the many benefits that can be gained by incorporating credit card processing into your online business, as well as the steps that you'd need to take to have a credit card processing system firmly entrenched in your business' operations.

If your company is growing, your customers are asking about credit payments, or you want to move forward with your business plan, give some thought to opening a merchant account, setting up an attractive Website, and adding the convenient, customer service option of credit card processing services.

Top 7 ClickBank Credit Card Processing Advantages

Here are seven good reasons why you should consider ClickBank.com as your credit card processing solution and merchant account alternative.

1. Accept Credit Cards Without a Merchant Account

If your products are digital (such as electronic books or software), you can use ClickBank to process credit cards and on-line cheques. The cost is $49.95 upon signup and $1.00 per transaction plus 7.5% of sales.

2. Start Your Own Affiliate Program

With ClickBank, you have your own built-in affiliate program. You decide what commission (from 1% to 75%) you would like to pay your affiliates.

3. Receive Free Advertising

You receive additional exposure through free listing on the ClickBank website and through the search facilities of other websites, such as CBMall.com.

Tip! The benefits of credit card processing online usually outweigh the disadvantages. Unfortunately there are some pitfalls involved with credit card processing you should be aware of.

4. Obtain Referral Commissions

Even without applying for ClickBank credit card processing, you can earn referral commissions on thousands of ClickBank Marketplace products.

5. Eliminate Sales Tax Problems

Since you must agree to sell your product to ClickBank for resale, ClickBank becomes the retailer responsible for collecting sales taxes -- not you. ClickBank will not be subject to sales taxes in most jurisdictions. ClickBank is registered for European Union (EU) purposes and adds the appropriate Value Added Tax (VAT) to each applicable transaction.

6. Accept PayPal

ClickBank now accepts PayPal as a payment method. According to PayPal.com, PayPal has "more than 86.6 million accounts in 56 countries and regions ...growing by 83,000 a day."

Tip! You can set up a retail credit card processing program using a swiped card method of processing payments. Or you can use MOTO for mainstream commerce.

7. Automated Product Delivery

After purchasing your product through ClickBank, the customer is redirected to a "thank you" page. This page may contain information about how the customer can download your product, thus automating your product delivery.

RESOURCE BOX:

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over twenty-five years.

To learn more about accepting credit cards, visit http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/creditcards.html

For profitable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/

Best Credit Card Processing Rates

Everyone goes into business to make money, so why spend more of your profits on expensive transaction fees, Website maintenance, service agreements and high credit card processing rates? When you take time to shop for the best deals, you can save quite a bit of money that can be used to good purpose in other parts of your business. Start shopping for the best credit card processing rates and open a merchant account.

You will first need to find a reputable bank or credit union that will agree to extend a merchant account to you for this purpose. To get approved, you will need a solid credit history, a reasonable business plan, and documentation to show that you are able to manage the costs associated with credit card processing rates. Typically, these include an installation fee for credit card processing equipment, a monthly gateway fee for your financial host, a transaction fee of a few cents per each or an overall percentage total each month. You also may be offered Website service that will entail a hosting fee, a service contract cost, and a designer's or updating service fee. Be sure to carefully read the terms of any contract that you receive. Never sign something that you don't understand or with which you cannot completely agree. Your company may have to pay for a monthly minimum up to a certain number of transactions, after which the balance for that month do not require additional fees.

Tip! The payment gateway is an application that you integrate into your website. Most payment gateways have an API that allows for easy, seamless integration into your website, meaning the user's experience on your website remains consistent, even through the credit card processing phase.

Credit card processing rates can vary by company or by processor program. Some companies charge no installation fee, while others require a one-time cost of a few hundred dollars, depending on the program's complexity. You may have to pay between 15 and 25 cents per transaction, or you could opt to pay a monthly percentage for the entire amount of business generated by your credit card processing unit; this amount often falls below 2%.

It is always a good idea to compare rates among competing financial institutions. If you really like the services offered by one merchant account company but prefer the lower rates of a second company, tell the first one about the competitor's lower rates, and perhaps the first company will meet or beat the lower cost in order to get your business. At first, you may want to keep the customer's interests in mind when shopping for credit card processing rates. In other words, passing on the savings of a particular program to your customers will keep them coming back to do business with you. If your rates are too high or not competitive enough, they may decide to take their business elsewhere.

As you plan to set up your new credit card processing service rates, it may help to let them know in advance that this program is coming so they can prepare and perhaps even help to get the word out to other potential customers. Then, after installing your new credit card processor, you should not hear complaints that anyone was blindsided or treated unfairly. If someone does complain, politely remind them of the earlier notices.

When you are ready to start processing credit card payments, don't be tempted to go for the option with the most features or the most sophisticated set-up. Opt for a system that will best suit your company needs and your customers' interests, as well as offering the best credit card processing rates.

Tip! You can set up a retail credit card processing program using a swiped card method of processing payments. Or you can use MOTO for mainstream commerce.